The Other Side of Time
by Bombay Boys
Summary: The war is over and it is a victory for the light. But it came at a terrible price. Harry chooses not to accept his fate, chooses to not feel the pain anymore. But will fate let the young phoenix fade? Or will it give him another chance to recover all he


**Title: **The Other Side of Time

**Author name:** Bombay Boys

**Summary:** The war is over and it is a victory for the light. But it came at a terrible price. Harry chooses not to accept his fate, chooses to not feel the pain anymore. But will fate let the young phoenix fade? Or will it give him another chance to recover all he lost?

**DISCLAIMER:** We don't own Harry Potter. We just write fanfics for fun and make absolutely no money out of it. It all belongs to the great JK Rowling.

**Many thanks to ladylarna aka Grace for betaing this for us. **

**OoOoOoO**

Prologue 

**OoOoOoO**

It was a hot summer day, the kind of day that people spend indoors with the air conditioners cranked up and cool drinks in their hands to try and escape the scorching heat.

Most people wouldn't readily go out on a day like this, and so it was very surprising to see the large crowd gathered outside an imposing two-story house, which was located at the end of a quiet, suburban street in London.

The house was built of blocks of heavy stone and was constructed in the Victorian style. The main door was made of ancient, heavy oak and was an antique piece, hundreds of years old.

Outside the door, two lion statues stood on either side, proud and prancing. However, the magnificent statues could not prevent some of the more eager people outside from shooting spells at the magical barricade outside and damaging it.

Fortunately, the person inside had expected something of this sort and had erected his own powerful wards, which kept the impatient crowd at bay. He had not been foolish enough to presume that the Department of Ward Casting at the Ministry of Magic was anything but incompetent.

The people outside thought of more creative ways to try and attract the attention of the person inside; they shouted his name and called out to him, waving placards and signs and waiting eagerly with their posters and autograph books for just one glimpse of him.

One might think that the person within the house was a famous actor, a rock star, or perhaps even a popular politician. He was none of these things.

He was a mere twenty-year-old young man who - in his unassuming way - was even more important than any actor, rock star or politician.

This twenty year old had saved the world. He had killed the biggest threat the world had known in centuries, a man so vile that people still dared not say his name, a person whose power had made the most powerful of men tremble.

The hero's name was Harry James Potter.

The fall of Voldemort had left the wizarding world in an unprecedented state of celebration, a state of celebration never seen before. And the people had a right to celebrate. Five years after his return, Lord Voldemort had made life a living hell for everyone. No one was safe, be they muggles or wizards. There was no neutral stand in this war, either you were for the Dark Lord, or against him. Those who dared to stand against him were killed brutally. Terror had ruled the streets of England for five years. If people left their homes at all, they rushed back in fear, praying all the while that they would find their loved ones safe and sound. Very few families made it through without losing at least one loved one.

The Aurors had it worst. They were picked off like flies by Death Eaters who used the Unforgivables with no hesitation. In the last few days of the war they had been nicknamed 'the army of the doomed.'

And then, a week ago, the miracle had happened.

Harry Potter, all of 20 years old, had defeated Voldemort.

How did he do it? Nobody knew. What losses did he suffer? Nobody cared. All they knew was that Voldemort had finally died, and now they were celebrating his death outside of Harry Potter's new house, which was awarded to him by the Ministry of Magic.

**OoOoOoO**

It was early morning when the last of the fans outside gave up and went home. Harry couldn't sleep. His nightmares had been haunting him again, nightmares that saw his parents, friends and his adopted family all die. He might have not been there at the scene of the crime, but Voldemort made sure that his link to Harry was put to the greatest use. Especially when it came to Ginny's death.

Ginny… 

She was the only girl whom he had ever loved. They began dating at the beginning of his sixth year. He had proposed during his seventh year, which she happily accepted.

However, fate has a way of playing with people.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone to battle some Death Eaters near Little Whinging. A source from the Order of the Phoenix had warned Harry by owl that there was an attack planned on the Dursleys on that day. While Harry had no great love for the Dursleys, he knew that he couldn't let them be killed. He had left for Privet Drive along with Ron and Hermione, leaving Ginny, Arthur, Molly and Remus back at Grimmauld Place. The trio reached Privet Drive and waited for the Death Eaters, but nobody showed up for an hour. The trio immediately realized that the owl was a trap to get Harry out of Grimmauld Place and they had fallen for it. It was at that moment that a pain shot through Harry's scar, and he was forced to witness Grimmauld Place being invaded by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. What followed was a bloodbath. Molly, Arthur and Remus battled bravely, but were completely overpowered and were murdered in no time by Voldemort. Harry had apparated back to Headquarters with Ron and Hermione, panic and grief almost paralyzing him. But it had been too late… Voldemort had left, taking Ginny with him.

What followed afterwards completely tore Harry apart. He was forced through the link he shared with Voldemort to watch as she was raped a dozen times and tortured until she was nearly insane.

He had gone up and down the country apparating like a madman to try and find her, to save her. His head had been nearly splitting open with pain, and tears relentlessly clouded his vision.

He had searched everywhere he could think of to find Voldemort's fortress, but it was no use. He could have been standing right outside it and he wouldn't have found it.

It was under the Fidelius charm.

Voldemort had taunted and humiliated Ginny, but she had never lost her spirit, even at the end, and she fought on praying that Harry would find her.

Harry was still visualizing the torture, when the green light of the killing curse had hit her, Harry collapsed. He went into extreme shock, and nobody could get through to him for days afterwards.

His world had crumbled into dust, all in the space of a day. The only way he could go on was by swearing an oath to take his revenge.

He had quickly realized that there was only one way Voldemort had been able to infiltrate Grimmauld Place: the Order had a traitor. How on earth could someone break into Grimmauld Place, otherwise? Someone would have given Voldemort the exact location to the place.

Harry had his suspicions about who the traitor was, but he knew that Dumbledore would never believe him. Severus Snape, the Death Eater 'spy' for the Order of the Phoenix and Potions Master at Hogwarts, was a prime candidate, but Dumbledore trusted Severus and Harry knew arguing with him would be a waste of energy; eventually, there was no need for arguments, as Snape personally killed Dumbledore on Harry's graduation day.

It seemed as though everything was going normally, but out without warning there was a Death Eater attack on Hogwarts. The place that was considered by many as the safest place in the Wizarding world was attacked. The carnage was terrible. Many students and teachers were killed, including Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown, the Patils, Ernie Macmillan, Terry Boot, Cho Chang, amongst many others.

Ron, Hermione and Neville survived that night, but Luna didn't. Fighting bravely, she fell when she was finally hit by a killing curse delivered by Lucius Malfoy.

Dumbledore and Harry were guarding each other's backs when a Death Eater stood before Dumbledore, revealing himself to be Severus Snape. In absolute shock, Dumbledore let down his guard. He realized that Harry's warning about Snape was right, but he trusted the man, and here he was in Death Eater robes aiding his cronies kill hundreds of innocent people. Snape took his chance. A simple killing curse was enough to finish off the greatest wizard who had ever lived since the time of Merlin.

This was the point at which Harry snapped. Forgetting that he was a wizard, he pounced on a very stunned Snape and began to rain blows on him, beating him down to his knees. All of his rage, all of his hurt, and all of his power went into the blows until Snape began to fade away into unconsciousness. Harry then proceeded to break every bone in his body with multiple _Reductos_. Snape died very slowly and very painfully. At this point, everyone in the Great Hall stopped what they were doing and stared at Harry with utter shock. No one attempted to stop him. The power and cold fury that Harry was radiating wasn't a sight for the weak. Even Hermione decided against going and calming her best friend. He had lost the girl of his dreams and his mentor in quick succession. The anger was evident and he needed his time to cool off before she could say anything to him. The Death Eaters fled as quickly as they came, but the damage had been done. Everyone who he had grown up with had died, and now Dumbledore dead? How could the Headmaster have been so naïve? Why didn't he ever listen to Harry? Snape was a spy! He had sent the fake owl! He was the reason that Ginny was dead! He was the reason that Ron had no parents! He killed Remus and Sirius, the closest links he had to his parents.

Harry, Ron and Hermione, along with the remaining Weasleys and a handful of Aurors, kept on tailing Voldemort and his Death Eaters. On several instances they were successful in killing the Death Eaters, while on other occasions they barely managed to escape by the skin of their teeth. Fortunately they were alive, and that was the thing Harry was most relieved about. That relief ended in the final battle, which occurred two years after his graduation

On his 20th birthday, Harry killed Voldemort. That was the good part. The bad part was that he was the last man standing afterwards. All of his friends and loved ones had died, as did the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

The battle between Harry and Voldemort was intense and they had built an energy shield around them, so that there was no interference. This was the battle between the two greatest and most powerful wizards that lived. Though Voldemort hated to admit it, Harry had become as powerful as him and had the added bonus of being younger and faster. What also surprised the Dark Lord was that the boy-who-lived didn't hesitate to use the Dark Arts, unlike Dumbledore, who always believed in using light magic spells.

"You're a fool, Potter!" snarled Voldemort. "You are more like me than you'd like to admit. Join me and I'll give you unlimited power. You will hold the strings to the world in your hands."

"Screw you, Tom!" Harry snapped. "You honestly think I'll join you after what you did to everyone I loved?"

"Don't call me by that name!" snarled Voldemort. "Your friends were nothing but mere pawns in this chess game. They defied me, especially your whore of a fiancé. I must admit Potter, you do have good taste in women. She tasted delicious," he laughed.

A red haze descended over Harry's eyes as Voldemort said these words. Volcanic anger raged through him, and his magic responded instinctively to it.

"_COLUMBULUSTA,_" bellowed Harry.

It all happened in a fraction of a second. Voldemort's laughter was replaced by a look of horror. He frantically put up his most powerful shield but it was not enough. A huge beam of orange light, three inches thick, blasted the shield apart and hit the Dark Lord right in the chest.

Harry had the satisfaction of seeing the terrified look in the Dark Lord's eyes before Tom was blasted into a hundred pieces.

Harry went up to the corpse, wiping the blood off his face before examining it.

"This is to ensure you never return," he snarled, and he waved his wand decisively, causing immensely hot blue flames to shoot out and burn the Dark Lord's body to ashes.

**OoOoOoO**

Harry restlessly sat and stared at the ceiling, feeling totally empty.

There wasn't any spark left in him anymore. No ambition, no goals or dreams, and no purpose.

Every single person whom he had loved, who ever gave any meaning to his life, was dead.

After Dumbledore's death, he decided against being an Auror. It was no longer appealing to him. Neither was Quiddich. Really, he had no interest in taking on any other job. He didn't want to get take a job that was offered to him solely because he was 'The Boy Who Lived and Survived;' it wouldn't be right, despite what people thought.

Harry stood up and stared into the night. He was no longer free to move outside. Everywhere he went he was mobbed for autographs. Everybody wanted a piece of him. Everybody wanted to meet their saviour.

It made him sick to his stomach.

"How can they be so insensitive?" he shouted out loud.

His voice lowered to a broken whisper. "What did I ever do to deserve my fate? I was locked in a cupboard for ten years of my life… I never complained. I fought and fought and fought. I never thought about what the dangers to me were, or what I would gain out of it. I did everything I could! I never tried to hurt anybody, never wanted fame or money or power. What then was my crime?

"WHAT WAS MY CRIME, DAMN YOU!" He screamed, and everything that had bottled up inside him for the last twenty years of his life burst out.

"Fate… you sure crapped on me good, didn't you? Why me? Why not Neville? Answer me, damn you! Why did it have to be me? Why did I have to live with the Dursleys? Why was I so mentally scarred as a kid? I didn't deserve that! No one deserves that! Hell, even _Riddle_ didn't deserve that!"

Suddenly, Harry chuckled bitterly. "But you didn't leave Neville either, did you? Didn't even have the decency to let him die. Is it fun for you to see him lie next to his parents? Lie like a shell of his former self? Are we all your pawns in some sick game?

"You killed them all… they are all gone. Why didn't you kill me too? Why keep me alive? Are you not done with me? Haven't I been punished enough? Or do you have more in store?

"Well, guess what? I'm not going to play along anymore. I refuse to be your pawn any longer. You want me alive, but I refuse to live anymore. I refuse to be part of a world where everything I love has been taken away simply because I always did the right thing."

Harry went to his desk. Like the rest of the house, the desk was a complete mess. Memories of the past covered the surface; pictures with him, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were there alongside a collection of Fred and George's products and gifts Remus, Sirius, Tonks and the Weasleys had given him. Next to the desk, leaning on the wall, was the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

He twirled the blade in his hands and for a minute smiled as he remembered something Dumbledore had once told him.

"Well, here's to the next great adventure," he said. With that, he raised the sword high in the air and stabbed himself straight through the heart.

There was a flash of white light, and Harry Potter knew no more.

**OoOoOoO**


End file.
